Artemis Fowl: Time of Sorrow
by Arrow Snape
Summary: The World changed after World War Three. The new government is forcing the thought of 'Equality', but what does this mean for Artemis? Or Heaven? Will this be the last time Artemis ever teams up with Holly, Foaly, Mulch and Butler?Slightly AU of OD & AU L
1. Prologue

**Artemis Fowl: Time of Sorrow**

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Artemis Fowl.

A/N: Alright, so, I got this idea from a story I read in my English class at school, which was called: _Harrison Bergeron_ by Kurt Vonegut. IT was a very futuristic story, and one that kinda made you go: whoa. So, I started to question on what would happen to Artemis if he went through all this. A lot of the 'equality' stuff I took from _Harrison Bergeron_ but a lot I also put in myself. So, here it goes. Oh and one more thing, Im not really sure what year Artemis was born in, and really I don't want to do the math right now. So for this stories benefit, lets place his birthday in 1990. And on one final note... I suck at politics. So.. basically I'm just going by what I actually know of the whole 'nuclear powers' and the election going on right now in the US (I'm Canadian), and yes, I'm making up names too.

**Prologue**

In 2008 there was already a War going on between the United States with Afghanistan and Iraq. Also in 2008, there was another election for a new President, the American's had hoped they would have someone who could fix the damage their last president had.

Unfortunately, they elected the wrong person.

Bryan Ackland was not what the American's had hoped he was. Instead of stopping the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, he made it worse. And not only that, but there had been tension between Russia and the US, Ackland made it worse, starting a nuclear war between the two countries. Eventually, more and more countries were pulled in, and by the time the Nuclear War was five months in, it had become a World War.

Ackland conscripted many young men into the war and just in his own country. The UK, and Canada were tightly under his power due to the possibility Ackland might bomb them or worse.

Though, on May 17, 2009, the new Prime Minister of England, Thomas Cassidy, tried to get out of Ackland's powerful grasp. Two months in his term of office, Cassidy was assassinated by a US soldier under Ackland's order's, and the UK feel under American rule. Not long after that, the Royal Family of England were also assassinated.

The war laster for three more years, and countless were killed. Until finally, a German soldier had managed to sneak into America and into a building where Ackland was holding a conference. The soldier suicide bombed the building killing all inside it, including Ackland.

It wasn't long after that, that the American's elected a new President who managed to stop the war. But under a horrible price. Millions of people had been killed, and millions more were to die within the next few years due to radiation exposure from all the bombs. The UK was no more, now they were three new US states, taking over the place of Hawaii and the islands surrounding it, which was one of the first places to be bombed. Most of Russia was either destroyed, mostly due to a German bomb landing on one of the Nuclear plants, as well, the remaining territory was split between the US, Germany and Japan.

The new President, Kimberly Baker, posed a new Act, that every government agreed to: Equality.

The Act stated that no one was to be smarter then anyone else, no one was to be richer, stronger, prettier.

Right away, Scientists were set to destroying all missiles and war weapons, and others to create chips, and ways to create equality.

They managed it. Every baby was tested for brain levels. If it appeared they have an above average IQ, a chip was placed in their brain to stop them from thinking 'smart thoughts'.

In turn, Teenage girls went under surgery if it was evident they were going to be beautiful, and even boys went through this once they hit puberty. Their features were changed to make them, average looking.

Another chip was placed into people that played with their hormones, not letting you become stronger then the average person would be.

By 2014, everyone had all of this done to them. School's were shut down because they encouraged 'smartness', and there was no such thing as doctors. Every state of the US and every major city in the World were only aloud a maximum of five scientists who did not have the IQ altering chip, and they were hand selected by the government and kept under strict control.

Artemis Fowl II was 18 when the World War started. He had been conscripted into becoming a soldier just like other boys his age. When his Commanding Officers realized his talents, they sent him to labs, where he became a War scientist, creating as many nuclear weapons as possible for the US and it's allies (Germany, Japan), without blowing everyone up. As well, Artemis was promoted to General and he lead teams of Scientists out to clean up a bombing site in order to clean up as much of the radiation as possible.

When the war ended in 2012, Artemis was 22 and he was aloud to go home, back to Fowl Manor in, what was once Ireland, and is now called Verde.

In 2013, the day after his 23 birthday, Artemis was called in to a Science lab, and was knocked out. When he awoke, he found that one of the IQ altering chips had been placed in his mind. Only a few months later, his bodyguard Butler, and his sister Juliet, were carried off and came back three weeks later, also with a chip in their minds, this one altering their strengths. Juliet and Artemis' mother had both under gone surgery, making them average looking, and Angeline had been devastated at the loss of her looks.

To make matters worse for the Fowl Family, once 2014 came around, their fortune suddenly disappeared, all accounts, even the ones Artemis had hid long ago with the gold he had stolen from the fairies when he was 12 years old, was taken, seized by the government. The Fowl's were taken from their Manor and were placed in a new suburb outside of Dublin. Fowl Manor was destroyed.

Artemis now, a normal adult, was working as a chasier at the local beer store. One of the only jobs left in the world anyone could actually get. But even then, you really didn't need the money as President Baker had pretty much embellished the concept. A job now, wasn't for money, it was mostly for something to do, and to keep things organized around the towns.

And where were the Fairies? When the War started, the LEP and the Fairy government shut off all access to the surface once Foaly relayed the news of the up coming war. No one, under any circumstances was aloud on the surface. And for all those years they stayed hidden, the war was being broadcaster through the LEP's satellites and to the Fairies own news.

The human race had destroyed itself, many Faeries had thought, even after the War finished. And perhaps they are right.

But members of the fairy people didn't like it. The US had destroyed almost everyone's identity, only keeping names and a world wide computer virus, called the Y2K bug as a joke, was sent out over the Internet, destroying it and all information. All computers were later banned.

What had these four fairies so worried, was their human friends. With no information about weather they were alive or dead, they waited for the time when Heaven was given the green light back onto the surface.

Any day now...

A/N:Well.. prologue. And just a final note, no, I'm not bashing American's at all. Nor am I going after the UK, for I have every country in the UK in my blood. And.. I thought I'd give the German's a break this time, make them on the good guys side .

Alright, so, just for help. A time line of the events. Later I'll probably add to this as more and more information is given.

-**2008:** Bryan Ackland was elected President.  
-**May 17, 2009**: Thomas Cassidy was assassinated for going against Ackland. The UK fell under US Power.

-**2012:** A German Soldier blew up the building Ackland was in. President Kimberly Baker was elected and the War ended. All North American(Canada), European, Asian, African, Australia and Antarctica were separated and given to either the US, Japan, or Germany as new countries.  
-**2013:** Baker ordered the chips to enforce "Equality"  
-**2014:** Everyone was under the power of at least on of the chips and Baker's dream of Equality was coming true.


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: Oh.. wow. -sheepish- I'm ... really sorry? I dunno if anyone is going to read this now. :S Sorry for it being soooooooo late. I hope this makes up for it I really do -_-'

Thank you very much to all those who reviwed. I feel kind of intimidated by half of these reviews though o.o! I'm not sure how good I'll be at writing Sci-fi, so i hope I don't ruin it :S

This chapter is dedicated to: Gun toten Girly: Thank you very much for your reviw, it inspired me to write again ^.^ I hope this chapter is good 3

-whispers- BTW, Julius Root is alive in this story. Who loves Time Paradox btw? -raises hand-

Chapter 1

Captian Holly Short sighed. She hated Mondays. Well really, who in their right minds would ever like Monday? Maybe Foaly, but he was a little weird to begin with.

She got out of service van the LEP had provided for her. For once, she wasn't late. Whistling softly, she headed down the block towards the headquarters. This day, it was safer to park a little ways away from the LEP headquarters. The war up on the surface had caused problems down in Haven as well. Fairies were furious that there were no more trips the surface, and began protesting, blaming the LEP for not trying to put a stop to this war.

Her mood suddenly dampened, Holly turned the corner and immediately, the bright colors from all the picket signs stood out. There seemed to be more this day.

Taking a deep breath, as if she was about to jump into water, rather than go through a crowed of people, she headed right for the door.

Halfway through the crowed, the protesters realized she was an officer.

"What happens above ground is not our fault!!"

"No right to ban surface visits!"

"LEP sucks!"

Well, that was blunt.

Like everyone else, Holly just ignored all the jests and managed to get inside. The waiting room was full of more protesters. They were here on charges of some sort. Though that didn't stop them from making their points.

Ducking her head before she could get pulled into processing them as well, she headed farther into the building.

It had become sort of a tradition to see Foaly before she even went to her station. She passed through a few doors, nodding to some of her colleges that greeted her, and like every day, she passed by the Gateway Lights.

The Gateway Lights was designed much like a Mud Man stoplight would work. A red light at the top, yellow light in the middle, and green light at the bottom. Gateway Lights was made at the beginning of the Mud Man war, in order to tell Haven when it was safe to go back up. On all of the billboards around Haven there was a Gateway Lights, a for the past four or so years, the light had been stuck on red.

Holly froze. Her eyes wide as she stared at it before she suddenly broke into a run heading, not for Foaly's booth, but rather to the office of Commander Julius Root.

The Gateway Lights had changed to yellow.

**

Julius was in the middle of a call when Holly Short burst into his office. Scowling at her he turned his back, finishing up the phone call before he hung up, turning back and looking at her expectantly.

"Commander! The Gateway Lights-"

"Are yellow. Yes I know." Commander Root said sounding completely uninterested as he shifted through the papers on his desk, "Yellow, Captain Short, only means selected members from the LEPrecon are aloud up on the surface."

"Yes but sir, I am a Recon-"

"Captain Short, I am very well aware of what division you are in." Root said, cutting her off again.

There was silence. Holly looked bursting to say something, and Root waited. Finally, she opened her mouth.

"Why has it changed sir?" she asked quietly. Root knew that wasn't what she wanted to ask him.

"It appears that Baker has created a new type of technology up there and is planning to test it out."

Holly looked confused, "What is it?"

"I'm not sure." he got up, heading towards the door, shooing Holly backwards out into the hall. He shut the door behind himself and headed down the hall, "But the centaur knows." and he left it at that.

Holly stood there, staring after him, before she realized what he meant and rushed off after him.

They walked in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

Foaly was waiting for them at the Op's booth.

"About time. Come on, come on!!" and the centaur disappeared inside.

A feeling of uneasiness passed over Holly as she followed her Commander inside.

Foaly had all kinds of different computers set up,most were receiving transmissions from the surface.

"Alright centaur. What is this all about?" Root asked, sitting down in a chair, crossing his arms and scowled. He seemed to be even grumpier lately. He had quiet his fungus cigars, much to the LEP's relief.

"That is what this is all about." Foaly exclaimed, pointing to one of the screens.

Displayed was what looked like some sort of blimp . From the bottom a bit of what looked like netting floated along as the blimp moved fairly slowly through the air.

"What about it centaur?" Root grounded out, sounding annoyed.

"See this?" Foaly asked, running a finger over the netting, "This is a new piece of technology. One that President Baker is going to use to spy on the thoughts of all there people. There is at least one being created for every country in the world. Right now, they're testing this one over Ireland."

"So?" Root asked, which was a bad thing apparently.

"So! SO!!" Foaly yelled, "We don't know how far this can read! What if it can detect all of my technology hidden up on the surface?! What if it could transmit a signal through the ground to one of us!? Unlikely it might be, but there are others still up on the surface! All the fairies that were banned from Haven, or those that just didn't want to come down here! It'll read all of their thoughts and-"

"And Haven will be found." Holly said softly, "D'avrit!"

"That's putting it mildly!" Foaly exclaimed, breathing hard in his panic.

Root nodded, as if finishing up an internal argument with himself, "Right then. We need to deal with this then."

Foaly nodded, "Yes, yes. Get a team together and-"

"No. The Council doesn't want a team up on the surface. They only want one fairy to go up, that way it'll be easier to track them, that and it'll be easier for just one fairy to hid."

"Right." Foaly said, looking panicked again. Root turned to Holly, who was too busy staring at that blimp up on the screen.

"Captain Short!!" Root yelled in her ear, making her jump and snap to attention.

"Yes sir!?" she asked, and looking at Root's red face, she realized he had probably been yelling at her for a while.

"The council has given the Okay for you to go up to the surface."

"What!" she exclaimed, a rush of joy going through her.

Root held up a hand, "Don't get to excited Short. You are there only to observe how far these 'thought' detectors can reach out, and if there's anyway to destroy them."

"Yes sir." she said. Not that it quelled her joy. Not being able to go onto the surface for four years was pure torture in her mind.

"You are to go up there, complete a ritual, before Foaly will direct you to find one of these things, and you will be given further instructions from there."

"Yes sir." she said, heading out of the Op's Booth, to get changed into the gear Foaly had just handed her.

"And Short," Root said, his voice had gone surprisingly soft, "As much as I know you would love to, stay clear of Artemis Fowl."

She gave a nod and turned her back stiff as she walked, her face set blank.

A/N: Kind of short I think. I'll make sure to update ASAP. In fact, I'll start writing Chapter 2 now R+R plz!


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Tara was one of the oldest tunnels leading to the surface. All shuttles were shut down due to the red light, but Foaly had given her a brand new pod that would get her to the surface safely.

She stepped back from the bush she had used to cover it up with, making sure the pod was no longer visible.

She reached up, pulling down the visor on her helmet.

"Alright Foaly, now what?" she asked. On the far left on the display inside, her vital signs beeped away. There was also a meter that showed (according to her suit), how many injuries she had. This was a new Beta suit Foaly was getting her to test out. He was trying to work out the kinks like when magic heals the injuries weather the bar loses some, or fills back up.

"Go complete the ritual. You still have a few hours of night left." Came the responds. She activated her wings, and took off into the sky.

"You're going to have to be extra careful Holly," Foaly warned, "You can't shield remember? You are completely visible to everyone."  
"I'll be careful don't worry Foaly."

She settled into silence. As much as she enjoyed being back up on the surface, something was wrong. She took in a deep breath of cool night air, and it hit her on what it could be.

Despite Mud Man attempts to get rid of it all, radioactive waste was almost impossible to get rid of. Their scientists and all they had thought they had found a way to completely destroy waste. But of course, they were wrong. Their methods only diluted the effects, and perhaps some humans would never feel the effects in their lifetime, but the radiation was still there. Mud Men just couldn't detect it on their computers.

But Fairies could. This was one of the reasons you couldn't go to the surface anymore. Radiation poisoning was no laughing matter to the fairies.

Holly paused in midflight, her stomach curling, making her feel like she was going to be sick. She opened up a small keyboard that was on her wrist and began typing. After a moment, a chart appeared up on the screen of her visor.

"Horrible isn't it?" Foaly said, sounding both resentful, yet his voice was soft.

All Holly could do was nod. The radiation level in the air was so high; the diluting effects of the Mud Man wouldn't have done much. Soon, there were going to be horrible effects on the humans from all of this, even possibly, the people of Artemis' generation would feel it.

And that meant the radiation was seeping into Holly right at that moment.

"Foaly! I can't be up here!" she exclaimed, turning in midair and heading back to the pod.  
"It's alright Holly. This suit will give you some protection from the radiation, and once you do the ritual your magic will protect you as well."

"Foaly… no this is too dangerous!"  
There was some muffled talking over her head piece before the voice suddenly changed from Foaly's to Commander Roots.

"You listen here Short! The whole council believes you are the only fairy for this job! And by Frond! You are doing it!!"

"Yes Commander." She said back, once again turning around, "On one condition." She said, stopping in midflight suddenly.  
"Short you are in no position to be making compromises!"  
"Then I'm coming back right now. I'm not getting poisoned, someone else can do it."  
Root paused, "Fine," he sighed, "What is it?"  
"Artemis Fowl. I want to check up on him at the very least."  
There was a long silence at the other end.  
"…Fine, alright. No interacting with him, just observe. We can't have any trouble with the Mud Men." Root sighed.  
"Holly." Foaly's voice said suddenly, as Root handed the controls over to him once again, "You know we're all worried about Artemis. Even Julius."  
"Yes, I know." She said softly, before continuing on her flight, not saying anything more on the topic.  
By Frond !! Why did she care? Shouldn't Artemis be one of the last people on her mind?

Fact was, Holly had come to see Artemis as a friend the last time she had seen him. How old would he be now? Holly thought it over, twenty four… or at least somewhere around there.

Gently she landed on the soft ground. Winter was approaching; you could feel it in the cool autumn night. As a light wind blew, knocking dyeing leaves from the trees, Holly stood there just looking around her. She hadn't even realized where she was going up till now.

This, was the very same clearing she had ever first met Artemis. She scowled, and stomped angrily over to the acorn tree, picked up a fallen one, and began the ritual.

It took only a few moments, but as soon as the acorn was buried in the ground she felt the power flow over her.  
"All ready Holly?" Foaly asked as Holly flexed her fingers, the power tingling to the tips as she did.  
"Of course. Now, where is this flying balloon from Hell?"  
Foaly chuckled lightly at that, "At the moment, it's flying over Dun Laoghaire and heading for Dublin."

"Right then." She said, activating her wings, shielding then flew into the air, heading South East.

**

"That is one ugly piece of-"  
"Captain Short! Remember you are on duty!" Julius Root shouted through her head piece.  
"Sorry Commander." She said.

Though Holly was right. The blimp like creation hovered in the air, moving at a slow pace towards Dublin. Holly was at least 100 to 200 yards away from it, but almost every detail could be seen on the contraption, including the net like material hanging off the bottom.

"While you were travelling, I've connected one of our newer satellites to the… Thought-blimp? Anyways, I can pick up on any of the thoughts it collects, this way, I can see how far the transmission goes and see if there's anything to worry about."  
"Right.." Holly said, her eyes still glued to it.  
"Alright then, let's get started." Holly heard the clicking of keys, "You are about 180 yards away from the Thought-blimp now, think of something, anything, and see if we can pick it up."

_'Foaly is an ugly Centaur. Foaly is an ugly Centaur. I am slowly going crazy. Foaly!!'_  
"Thinking anything?"  
"A few things." Holly answered back.  
"Hmm… so it doesn't work that far. Then we're safe. Shall we see how far we can go?"  
"Whatever, let's do it."

For the next hour, Holly and Foaly work on see how far the 'Thought-blimp' could read out to. Finally, Holly got to 100 yards even when Foaly picked up her thought.  
"Well, that's not as far as I thought it would be." He said, sounding slightly relieved, "Then again, that just might be from the sides rather than right under it."

Holly flew back away from it before she answered, "Yea well, I don't plan on being that close."  
"Of cour-" Foaly suddenly stopped.  
"Foaly? What is it?" Holly asked, suddenly worried the 'Thought-blimp' picked up one of her stray thoughts.  
"No-nothing. Nothing at all Holly." Foaly said, clicking away at the keyboard.  
"Commander Root! What is it?" Holly demanded.  
"Nothing to worry about Captain Short. I guess that means this.. blimp is over Dublin now?"  
"Yea… I mean yes." Foaly said sounding slightly shaken.

Holly looked up, noticing the 'thought-blimp' was much farther away from her now, and by the looks of it, it was now over Dublin.  
"You picked up one of Artemis' thoughts, didn't you?"  
"Well, that's to be expected isn't it?" Foaly said sheepishly, "He does live in Dublin now, and that's where they're…. Holly. Where are you going?"

Holly had activated her wings, and rushed off after the blimp, she made sure she stayed at least 200 yards away from it just to be safe.  
"Holly! Don't go, don't be stupid! If he sees you they can catch his thoughts then we'll be in trouble."  
"Not if I get him out of here now will they?"  
"Holly!!!"  
"Besides, the Commander promised."  
Holly shut off the communicator. Foaly and the Commander could still hear her, but now she couldn't receive anything from them.

"Alright Fowl. Let's see what you've been up to." She muttered as she came to a subdivision. All the houses looked the exact same. Every house had the same, hybrid car in front of it (though some of them had different colors). Everything was neat, tidy, and looked like a stage from an old Mud-man family show.  
She shivered, this was just.. gross. No other words for it.  
_'Which one is you Artemis?'_ she thought to herself, changing her altitude so that she could see the front doors of the houses when she flew by. She gave a slight laugh when she realized that every house had the owners name written on the mail boxes.  
"Let's see. Finnegan, Acton, Maddock, Sandford, Fowl!" She stopped outside of house number 28. There was a car in the driveway, so she didn't have to worry about Artemis coming home or anything.

She flew up to the main window, which had the curtain drawn and travelled around the house looking for an uncovered window. Going around to one side, she found the window to a bathroom, which was empty. The door into the hallway was open, but she didn't see anyone. Hovering around to the backyard she found the kitchen window, and the large sliding glass door, which was open slightly to let air in.  
She landed on the door step and peeked one eyes through the crack. For the first time in a long while, she was annoyed at the rule of having to be invited into a Mud-Men dwelling before entering. It wouldn't have bothered her if this was Fowl Manor, but seeing as how it wasn't, she couldn't enter.

Inside she saw a dining table set almost right in front of the door, blocking her view of the rest of the house. If she looked to the right, she could see the counters and fridge of the kitchen, and to the left there was a small sitting room where a TV was turned on, but no one was sitting there.  
Something moved in front of her and Holly launched back and gave a surprised yell.

Holding a hand to her chest, she looked back and saw a brown tabby cat sitting at the door, waving a paw through the crack, meowing at her to let it outside.

"Eros, you crazy cat." Came a voice inside, and suddenly the door opened fully, and the cat, Eros, dashed outside, sitting right under Holly, staring up at her.

Holly's attention was on the cat's owner. A man in his early twenty's stood there, dressed in black jeans and a dark blue button up shirt. His bright blue eyes watch the cat in amusement, and his black hair stood on end as if he'd been running his hands through it a few times. He didn't look so pale as he did when he was a child, but he still had the aristocratic look about him.

With a shaking hand, Holly turned on the communicator again, only slightly surprised at not hearing anything from the other end.  
"Is that really him Foaly?"  
"Yea, it has to be. Boy has little Arty grown up."  
"Eros, what are you looking at?" Artemis Fowl II said, looking right at Holly, though he couldn't see her. His cat meowed back, as if talking to his. Artemis shook his head, but continued to stare at the spot where Holly was hovering. Between the cat and Artemis, Holly was starting to get uneasy.  
"You can come in whenever you'd like." Artemis said finally, leaving the door open and headed back inside.  
"Was that to you?" Foaly asked her, sounding confused.  
"I'm… not sure." Holly said, before once more landing on the steps, tentively looking in. Eros the cat was right behind her, purring loudly.

"Only one way to find out." Foaly said softly.  
Holly held her breath and stepped inside the house. She didn't feel sick at all. Just as she let the breath go Artemis spoke from her left, sitting on a set of couches she hadn't seen before.  
"Hello Captain Short."

A/N: whew. And finally, Artemis is here ^^ R+R


End file.
